Planning Commission Pushes Back Against Trump’s Grandiose 250-foot Arch, Demands Compliance with Height Regulations
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The National Capital Planning Commission has warned that the extravagant 250-foot Triumphal Arch, a pet project of former President Trump, must be scaled back to comply with the 1910 Height of Buildings Act and other essential regulations designed to protect Washington, D.C.’s historic urban landscape.
The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) delivered a clear message to officials on Thursday: the 250-foot Triumphal Arch, championed by Trump and proposed for the Memorial Circle, cannot proceed in its current form and must undergo significant structural changes to align with longstanding city regulations. The design, which features a 166-foot mezzanine, a 24-foot observation level, and a towering 60-foot statue of Lady Liberty, blatantly disregards the 130-foot height limit established by the 1910 Height of Buildings Act—a law that has preserved the city’s skyline from unchecked development and political vanity projects.
Despite attempts by the Department of the Interior to exempt federal buildings from these democratic safeguards, the NCPC reaffirmed its commitment to applying the height restriction to all federal projects, resisting efforts to undermine public oversight. The commission proposed a compromise: lower the mezzanine to 130 feet, reduce the observation level to 20 feet, and allow the statue a total height of 100 feet, thus capping the structure at 250 feet but within a more reasonable scale.
"My concern is not with commemoration itself, but with this specific proposal, its location, its scale, and its impact on a historic memorial landscape," said Gold Star mother Cynthia Morrison, highlighting the need to prioritize community voices over political spectacle.
"As a combat veteran, I feel a duty to protect the memory and honor the sacrifice of my comrades and all those buried there," added Vietnam veteran Michael Lemmon, who is part of a lawsuit challenging the arch’s imposition on sacred ground.
The NCPC also flagged practical issues, such as inadequate pedestrian-accessibility plans, problematic lighting design, and the visual pollution from 32 traffic poles and eight oversized lighting stanchions. The commission insisted that recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration be followed and noted that a comprehensive aeronautical study is still pending. No final review date has been set, but federal officials, eager to push through this controversial project, have floated an aggressive construction schedule involving 20-hour workdays over two years. The arch, to be built of concrete with a granite veneer, would starkly contrast with the city’s more dignified stone monuments, raising further questions about its appropriateness.